DonorLink

Home Page
Urgent Requests
Donator Page
Shelter Page
Contact
Impact

Inspiration

After volunteering at local nonprofits like Wellspring Family Services, we witnessed firsthand how uneven donation distribution can leave some shelters with shortages while others have surpluses. That experience motivated us to build a tool that helps donations truly reach where they’re needed most.

What it does

DonorLink connects donors with homeless shelters and nonprofits based on real-time needs. Donors can input what they plan to give and instantly see which shelters need that item most, filtered by urgency, location, and category, which ensures every donation makes maximum impact.

How we built it

We built DonorLink using TypeScript and leveraged AI tools to accelerate our website's development. To visualize shelters across locations, we used Leaflet, an open-source mapping library, to create an interactive map that enhances user experience.

Challenges we ran into

Our initial development platform was locked behind a paywall, forcing us to quickly pivot to a new stack and learn its tools on the fly under tight time constraints.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We created a clean, intuitive user interface and an interactive map that connects donors to shelters. Most importantly, we built a product with the potential to make real impact in local communities.

What we learned

We deepened our understanding of web development fundamentals, gained hands-on experience with TypeScript and Leaflet, and learned how to effectively leverage AI tools in the development process.

What's next for DonorLink

We plan to integrate verified shelter databases, expand our donation-matching logic, and ultimately launch DonorLink as a public platform to help close the resource gap—and move closer to ending homelessness for good.

Built With

Submitted to

DubHacks '25

Created by

I helped develop the project concept, define requirements, and outline key outcomes. During development, I focused on front-end implementation and overall UI/UX design.

Ethan Nguyen
I worked on the backend system. I primarily focused on processing data into custom object structures that allowed us to populate certain UI elements based on our provided data.

Aiden Yav
This was one of my first hackathons, so I primarily focused on idea development and front-end design. Drawing on my experiences volunteering at homeless shelters, I provided first-hand insight into how shelters often face an overflow of unnecessary supplies while lacking the essential items they actually need.

Elliott Li Gefroh
I contributed to the product development by brainstorming website design concepts. As well as contributing to the front end development by creating interactive tabs and counters.

Aidan D Tran